Inmate released early for losing weight by judge

George McCovery shed 25 pounds in 20 days on the "lose-a-pound, gain-a-day" plan suggested by Lake County Judge Donna Miller, but he wouldn't necessarily recommend the diet to others...

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From Orlando Sentinel:

TAVARES — George McCovery shed 25 pounds in 20 days on the “lose-a-pound, gain-a-day” plan suggested by Lake County Judge Donna Miller, but he wouldn’t necessarily recommend the diet to others.

Miller, who sentenced McCovery, 37, earlier this month for driving with a suspended license, promised the 345-pound hypertensive man that she would shrink his stay at the Lake County Jail by one day for every pound he lost while in custody.

After 20 days in the slammer, where he limited his intake mostly to vegetables on his dinner tray, he weighed in Monday at 320 pounds, and Miller cut him loose early — in time for turkey-day sweet-potato pie at home in West Palm Beach.

“It’s not easy to lose weight. I thought he’d lose 5, maybe, 6 pounds — not 25,” said Miller, 64, who has often dished out creative sentences during her 17 years as a county judge. “It’s like [sentencing] someone in a drug case. I’d much rather have them stop doing drugs than send them to jail. I hope I can help.”

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